White House Mum On TRIA

Treasury dept. wont tip hand about report onprogram

Washington

The White House sent a chill through the insurance industry lastweek when its designated representative declined to tip the BushAdministration's hand on the fate of the Terrorism Risk InsuranceAct which expires Dec. 31despite advance notice that he might doso.

Greg Zerzan, the U.S. Treasury Department's acting assistantsecretary for Financial Institutions, spoke from a prepared textand declined to elaborate. Indeed, he would not offer a substantiveresponse when the Washington, D.C. insurance regulator, LarryMirel, told him that TRIA was “not an unqualified success” becauseof affordability and availability concerns in urban areas, such asWashington and New York.

In addition, he did not respond directly when asked by anofficial at the American Council of Life Insurers to “pleaseconsider the group life industry” when evaluating whether TRIAshould be extended, and what shape it would take.

All Mr. Zerzan said is that Treasury has just sent out the lastof its survey forms to the insurance industry as it prepares itsreport on TRIA's viability, mandated to be presented to Congress byJune 30. He added only that the administration wants to completethe report “as soon as possible.”

The industry had been hopeful that Mr. Zerzan would give someinkling as to administration support for extension of TRIA, andwhat shape a White House-sponsored bill would take. His office isresponsible for drafting the report that industry officials believewill play a key role in their efforts to get TRIA extended, and towin a commitment for a long-term “public/private partnership” onterrorism coverage as well as specific coverage for nuclear,chemical, biological and radiation attacks.

Mr. Zerzan acknowledged that such coverage is not specificallymentioned in the current TRIA bill.

Mr. Zerzan spoke at a conference on financial institutionregulatory reform organized by Baker & Daniels-Sagamore, a lawand consulting firm.

The meeting took center stage because a Senate Banking Committeehearing regarding the fate of TRIA, scheduled to take place at thesame time, was postponed when one of the ranking Democratic memberswas unable to attend. The meeting is expected to be held later thismonth.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, March 4, 2005.Copyright 2005 by The National Underwriter Company in the serialpublication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as anindependent work may be held by the author.